ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

Hugh Downs School of Human Communication

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (The College) on the Tempe Campus of Arizona State University (ASU) invites inquiries, nominations, and applications for the position of Director of the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication (HDSHC) with a concurrent appointment as tenured Full Professor. The College values our cultural and intellectual diversity, and continually strives to foster a welcoming and inclusive environment. We are especially interested in applicants who can strengthen the diversity of the academic community.

The HDSHC is home to a dynamic group of faculty working to create innovative research and excellence in teaching through its efforts to address the complexity of human communication in the 21st century. The HDSHC's mission aims to place communication at the center of human activity while creating a culture of belonging that values diversity. The new Director will join a community passionate about the integration of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion into all parts of the HDSHC's offerings and operations.

Our next Director will have a leadership style that aligns with the University's culture of invention and innovation, creates meaningful and enduring results, and encourages a passion for the social sciences as interconnected, inclusive, and impactful fields. The Director should cultivate a persuasive vision for the HDSHC's future that reflects our highest aspirations for the School and its role in civil discourse within and across communities and throughout society.

A uniquely collaborative group, in 2019 the HDSHC completed a School-wide program review that showcased their notable breadth of teaching and research, collegial and interdisciplinary nature and outlined shared strategic aspirations for the coming years. The HDSHC is comprised of 28 distinguished core faculty and offers BA, BS, MA, and Ph.D. degrees. Our faculty are recognized for teaching and research excellence in areas of Human Communication including: health, intercultural, interpersonal, organizational, performance studies, critical/cultural studies, and rhetoric. Online programs, including a minor, BS, BA and MA, have experienced exponential growth and the School looks forward to continuing the upward trajectory. The HDSHC offers laboratory facilities, computer resources, project support, grant development support, and a performance studio.

ASU's location offers the resources of a major metropolitan area (5+ million) in a state with spectacular natural scenery and recreational areas, sublime winters, and a culturally rich population. Learn more about the HDSHC and ASU at https://humancommunication.asu.edu/ and https://newamericanuniversity.asu.edu/, respectively. Learn more about what The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has to offer by visiting https://thecollege.asu.edu/faculty.

Minimum Qualifications

* A Ph.D. degree in Communication Studies or a closely related or relevant field

* A scholarly record commensurate with the rank of tenured Full Professor in The Hugh Downs School of Human Communication

* A record of effective mentoring, in particular related to junior faculty as well as undergraduate and graduate students

* A record of leadership performing significant and effective financial oversight (i.e., group/center leader; department chair/director)

* Demonstrated commitment to principles of justice, equality, diversity, and inclusion; to attracting, recruiting, retaining, and promoting personnel in support of those principles, and in particular Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) personnel

Desired Qualifications

* An internationally recognized program of research, a strong record of external funding, and experience supporting colleagues as they compete for funding

* Excellent interpersonal and strong, persuasive communication skills

* Ability to articulate the vision, mission, and future aims of the HDSHC in relationship to The College and the University

* Demonstrated an entrepreneurial approach to forming alliances and partnerships with other units and programs in the university, as well as outside organizations and external stakeholders, particularly those in racially and ethnically diverse and intersectional communities.

* A broad outlook and approach to new trends in Human Communication that capture a new learning paradigm of the communication process in post-pandemic higher education

* An interest in and commitment to fundraising and an ability to present a compelling story to potential donors, funding agencies, and external constituencies

Arizona State University is a leading public university ranked #1 Most Innovative School by U.S. News & World Report six years in a row and is leading a bold reinvention of higher education as the New American University. ASU is a research-intensive university and has developed numerous new programs and units that defy and bridge disciplinary boundaries to enable the exploration and discovery of new knowledge while developing solutions to the most challenging issues of our time. Located on four campuses and two research parks in the Phoenix metropolitan area, ASU is one of the largest universities in the United States and has strong and simultaneous commitments to educational access, research, and teaching excellence. With the University's location in the nation's fifth largest city, the Phoenix region provides a rich context for applied research and community engagement around issues of human communication.

Nominations, inquiries, and applications (a curriculum vitae; a letter of interest describing how you meet the qualifications noted above, and your vision for leadership of an interdisciplinary school; a statement addressing how your past and/or potential contributions to diversity and inclusion will advance ASU's commitment to inclusive excellence; and contact information, including email addresses, for five references [references may be contacted at a later stage of the search and only with the candidate's approval]) can be submitted online at http://apply.interfolio.com/94112. Applications will be reviewed beginning Friday, October 22, 2021; if not filled, reviews will occur every two weeks thereafter until the search is closed.

Questions about this position should be directed to Chris Stojanowski, Chair of the Search Committee via email cstojano@asu.edu.

A background check is required for employment.

ASU is a VEVRAA Federal Contractor and an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, sex, religion, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other basis protected by law. For more information on ASU's policies, please see https://www.asu.edu/aad/manuals/acd/acd401.html and its complete non-discrimination statement at https:/www.asu.edu/titleIX/.

In compliance with federal law, ASU prepares an annual report on campus security and fire safety programs and resources. ASU's Annual Security and Fire Safety Report is available online at https://www.asu.edu/police/PDFs/ASU-Clery-Report.pdf. You may request a hard copy of the report by contacting the ASU Police Department at 480-965-3456.

Karslruher Institut für Technologie

Supporting the chair for Science Communication with a Focus on Effects / Transfer

Organizational unit: Institute for Technology Futures (ITZ)

Job description

We are looking for a team member that supports our research and teaching investigating the dynamics of public controversies over science, technology, and the environment. Among others, this includes the following: science of science communication, media effects research, media usage, diffusion of information, e.g., in debates over meat consumption, climate change, gene technology, future mobility, COVID-19, and many more.

Among others, we are interested in how media cover these issues, how information diffuses and reaches diverse audiences, which actors use which arguments, how particular messages affect specific audiences, groups of actors, or societal processes.

We are looking for a team member who can contribute to these topics in their research and teaching. Successful candidates will teach (4 hours/week during a semester), contribute to research projects and research proposals and will pursue their own qualification (doctoral dissertation or postdoctoral work).

Starting date: zum nächstmöglichen Zeitpunkt / as soon as possible

Personal qualification

Successful candidates have completed their Master’s degree (for doctoral position) or their doctorate (for postdoc position) in a social scientific subject with a focus on quantitative methods. They have worked on questions relating to communication research (e.g., Digital Media, Public Opinion, Media Psychology, Media Effects, News Diffusion, Political Communication, Reception Studies, Science Communication) and have acquired skills in quantitative social research methods (e.g., computational social science, social scientific experimental designs, survey research, quantitative media content analysis).

Salary

The remuneration occurs on the basis of the wage agreement of the civil service in TV-L E13, depending on the fulfillment of professional and personal requirements.

Contract duration: 36 months

Application up to: October 20th, 2021

Contact person in line-management

For further information, please contact Prof. Dr. Senja Post, e-mail: senja.post@kit.edu.

Application

Please submit the following in a single pdf document: letter of intent including research experience and interest, CV, transcripts of grades (high school diploma; Bachelor and Masters degree, doctoral certificate, if applicable), list of publications (if existent), one publication or a chapter from Master thesis as well as contact information for at least one academic reference.

Please submit your application in a single pdf document via email to senja.post@kit.edu.

vacancy number: 2043/2021

We prefer to balance the number of employees (f/m/d). Therefore, we kindly ask female applicants to apply for this job.

Recognized severely disabled persons will be preferred if they are equally qualified.

Please apply online using the button below for this vacancy number 2043/2021.

Ausschreibungsnummer: 2043/2021

Recognized severely disabled persons will be preferred if they are equally qualified.

Contact

Personnel Support is provided by:

Personalservice (PSE) - Human Resources

Ms Carrasco Sanchez

Phone: +49 721 608-42016,

Kaiserstr. 12, 76131 Karlsruhe

APLLY HERE: https://jobs.pse.kit.edu/en/jobs/10385/form

Christian Fuchs

SocietyNow Series. Bingley: Emerald. ISBN 9781801177238. 336 pages.

Date of publication: 6 September 2021

Order: Emerald (30% discount on purchase via Emerald, enter code EMERALD30 at checkout), Amazon UK, Amazon.com, Indiebound, Book Depository

Sample Chapter: Chapter 1: Pandemic Times (PDF)

Request a review copy

German publication in print (“Verschwörungstheorien in der Pandemie. Wie über COVID-19 im Internet kommuniziert wird”, UVK/utb)

The COVID-19 pandemic crisis has changed the way we live and communicate. The phases of lockdown brought about by the pandemic fundamentally changed the way we work, lead our everyday lives, and how we communicate, resulting in Internet platforms becoming more important than ever before. Communicating COVID-19 explores the impact of these changes on society and the way we communicate, and the effect this has had on the spread of misinformation.

Critical communication and Internet scholar Christian Fuchs analyses the changes of everyday communication in the COVID-19 crisis and how misinformation has spread online throughout the pandemic. He explores the foundations and rapid spread of conspiracy theories and anti-vaccination discourse on the Internet, paying particular attention to the vast amount of COVID-19 conspiracy theories about Bill Gates. He also interrogates Internet users’ reactions to these COVID-19 conspiracy theories as well as how Donald Trump communicated about COVID-19 on Twitter during the final year of his Presidency.

Communicating COVID-19 is an essential work for anyone seeking to understand the role of digital technologies, changes in communication and the Internet, and the spread of conspiracy theories in the context of COVID-19.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Introduction: Pandemic Times

Chapter 2. Everyday Life and Everyday Communication in Coronavirus Capitalism

Chapter 3. Conspiracy Theories as Ideology

Chapter 4. Bill Gates Conspiracy Theories as Ideology in the Context of the COVID-19 Crisis

Chapter 5. Users’ Reactions to COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories on Social Media

Chapter 6. Donald Trump and COVID-19 on Twitter

Chapter 7. Conclusion: Digital Communication in Pandemic Times and Commontopia as the Potential Future of Communication and Society

Background

This book is a contribution to the analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic on society. It takes a sociological and communication studies approach for analysing the following question: How have society and the ways we communicate changed in the COVID-19 pandemic crisis?

This main question was broken down into a series of sub-questions. There is one chapter in this book dedicated to each sub-question:

Chapter 2: How have everyday life and everyday communication changed in the COVID-19 crisis? How has capitalism shape everyday life and everyday communication during this crisis?

Chapter 3: What is a conspiracy theory? How do conspiracy theories matter in the context of the COVID-19 crisis?

Chapter 4: How do COVID-19 conspiracy theories about Bill Gates work?

Chapter 5: How do Internet users react to COVID-19 conspiracy theories spread on social media?

Chapter 6: How has Donald Trump communicated about COVID-19 on Twitter? How have conspiracy theories influenced his Twitter communication about COVID-19?

The book is organised in the form of seven chapters. The introduction sets out the societal context of the study. Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 address the mentioned questions. Chapter 7 draws conclusions for the future of communication and society.

In 2020 and 2021, the pandemic crisis that emerged from the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) this virus causes shook the world. The virus originated in bats and was most likely transmitted to humans by the pangolin (Andersen et al. 2020), a subdomain of the mammal clade of Ferae to which besides the pangolin also carnivorans (e.g. dogs, bears, cats, big cats) belong. The virus first appeared in December 2019 on a food market in Wuhan, the capital of the Chinese province of Hubei and spread worldwide.

The 21st century has thus far been a century of multiple crises. At its start, 9/11 in 2001 created a political crisis that set off a vicious cycle of terror and war. In 2008, a new world economic crisis unfolded that had its origin in the systematic crisis-proneness of capitalism and the financialisation of the economy since the 1970s as response to falling profit rates. Many governments bailed out failing banks and corporations, which increased national debt so that they implemented austerity measures, from which workers and the poor suffered. In 2015, a humanitarian refugee crisis emerged in Europe that has been the consequence of war, natural disasters, and global inequalities. Following the world economic crisis, in a significant number of countries right-wing authoritarian political leaders came to power or strengthened their share of the vote, including Donald Trump in the USA. A crisis of democracy unfolded. In 2020, COVID-19 hit the world and created a simultaneous health crisis, economic crisis, political crisis, cultural crisis, moral crisis, and global crisis.

In order to prevent the pandemic getting out of control, many governments introduced lockdowns so that at times most people had to stay at home and all but absolutely essential shops and institutions had to stay closed. The result was a politically created economic crisis in the context of a major global health crisis. In 2020, the global gross domestic product shrunk according to estimations by 4.4 percent (data source: IMF World Economic Outlook, October 2020). At the political level, governments had to increase national debt in order to guarantee the survival of humans during lockdown phases. At the political and cultural level, difficult debates emerged about what sectors of society should remain opened or should be closed during COVID-19 waves. These debates affected realms such as education (schools, nurseries, universities), arts and culture, tourism, and gastronomy. In some countries, hospitals’ intensive care units reached their limits, which required that society and those taking decisions on medical ethics formulated guidelines in order to decide who should and who should not get an intensive care bed when there is a shortage. Social distancing increased feelings of loneliness and depression. At the level of ideology, COVID-19 conspiracy theory movements emerged that question the existence of the pandemic, the need for countervailing measures (social distancing, wearing masks, lockdown) and spread anti-vaccination propaganda. In turn, the danger emerged that fewer people get vaccinated against COVID-19 and that the health crisis is prolonged.

Capitalism is not the direct cause of SARS-CoV-2. COVID-19 conspiracy theories construct such a direct link by claiming that Bill Gates and pharmaceutical companies have secretly engineered the virus in order to make profits from vaccines. We will analyse such crude economistic ideology as part of this book. Such conspiracy theories have been appropriated and advanced by the far-right and the anti-vaccination movement. Capitalism is not the direct cause, but a context of COVID-19. Capitalist society has acted as context in several respects, namely: agricultural capitalism; the global spread of SARS-COV-2; points of change; governance; ideology; globalisation and de-globalisation; class relations in pandemic times; vaccine capitalism and vaccine nationalism.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about phases of lockdown that have changed the way humans work, lead their everyday lives, and how they communicate. Internet platforms have played an important role in this context. One aspect of Communicating COVID-19 is the analysis of changes everyday life and everyday communication have been undergoing. Times of deep crises create fears, risks, uncertainties, and changes. Crisis-ridden societies are therefore prone to the emergence of ideologies and conspiracy theories that instrumentalise such situations. In the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, right-wing ideology has joined together with conspiracy theories and anti-vaccination ideology for creating distinct COVID-19 conspiracy theories. Communicating COVID-19analyses how COVID-19 conspiracy theories have been communicated, received, spread, and contested on social media. This book shows that times of deep crisis are not just times of social change, but also times where communication and communication technologies matter in the production, dissemination, and challenge of ideologies.

Edited by: Gabriele Balbi, Nelson Ribeiro, Valérie Schafer and Christian Schwarzenegger

Open Access available at DeGruyter (funded by the University of Luxembourg): https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110740202/html

As media environments and communication practices evolve over time, so do theoretical concepts. This book analyzes some of the most well-known and fiercely discussed concepts of the digital age from a historical perspective, showing how many of them have pre-digital roots and how they have changed and still are constantly changing in the digital era. Written by leading authors in media and communication studies, the chapters historicize 16 concepts that have become central in the digital media literature, focusing on three main areas. The first part, Technologies and Connections, historicises concepts like network, media convergence, multimedia, interactivity and artificial intelligence. The second one is related to Agency and Politics and explores global governance, datafication, fake news, echo chambers, digital media activism. The last one, Users and Practices, is finally devoted to telepresence, digital loneliness, amateurism, user generated content, fandom and authenticity. The book aims to shed light on how concepts emerge and are co-shaped, circulated, used and reappropriated in different contexts. It argues for the need for a conceptual media and communication history that will reveal new developments without concealing continuities and it demonstrates how the analogue/digital dichotomy is often a misleading one.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TECHNOLOGIES AND CONNECTIONS

Networks: Massimo Rospocher and Gabriele Balbi

Media Convergence: John O’Sullivan and Leopoldina Fortunati

Multimedia: Katie Day Good

Interactivity: Benjamin Thierry

Artificial Intelligence: Paolo Bory, Simone Natale and Dominique Trudel

AGENCY AND POLITICS

Global Governance: Francesca Musiani and Valérie Schafer

Data(fication): Erik Koenen, Christian Schwarzenegger and Juraj Kittler

Fake News: Monika Hanley and Allen Munoriyarwa

Echo Chambers: Maria Löblich and Niklas Venema

Digital Media Activism: Emiliano Treré and Anne Kaun

USERS AND PRACTICES

Telepresence: Jérôme Bourdon

Digital Loneliness: Edward Brennan

Amateurism: Susan Aasman, Tim van der Heijden and Tom Slootweg

User-Generated Content (UGC): Göran Bolin

Fandom: Eleonora Benecchi and Erika Wang

Authenticity: Andreas Fickers

September 23-24, 2021

Erasmus University Rotterdam

Deadline (registration): September 10, 2021

Erasmus Research Centre of Media, Communication and Culture (ERMeCC) will host a conference that highlights the efforts of the H2020 research project “INVENT - European Inventory of Societal Values of Culture as a Basis for Inclusive Cultural Policies in the Globalizing World”. INVENT examines the cultural and social preconditions required to realize the goals of the New EU Agenda for Culture: the preservation and improvement of the European project, advancing the well-being of European citizens, and fostering inclusiveness, tolerance, and social cohesion.

INVENT investigates how European citizens perceive and engage with culture and how this varies for different (e.g., demographic, socio-economic, ethnic, religious) groups of people in European societies. It addresses how processes of globalization, European integration, migration, social inequalities, and digitalization affect (perceptions and experiences of) everyday life, everyday culture, and cultural participation.

Researchers, cultural stakeholders, policymakers, and students who are interested in these issues are cordially invited to participate.

The conference program on Thursday, September 23 will feature in-person presentations and discussions at Erasmus University Rotterdam that will be live-streamed for those who prefer to participate online. On Friday September 24, the conference program will be fully online.

Please visit inventculture.eu/invent-congress/ for more info and registration.

Nico Carpentier

ISBN 9781789384550

Paperback: 220 x 220 mm

166 pages

GBP 30.00

https://www.intellectbooks.com/iconoclastic-controversies

This book combines photography and written text to analyse the role of memorials and commemoration sites in the construction of antagonistic nationalism. Taking Cypriot memorializations as a case study, it shows how these memorials often support, but sometimes also undermine, the discursive-material assemblage of nationalism.

Aims:

The Iconoclastic Controversies project is a research project with multiple aims and focal points. First, as a research project, Iconoclastic Controversies enquires into the relationship of memorials and commemoration sites with antagonistic nationalism. The second aim of Iconoclastic Controversies is to contribute to the more general discussions about the relationship between the discursive and the material, as theorized in an earlier publication, the Discursive-Material Knot (Carpentier, 2017). The third aim of the Iconoclastic Controversies project is to bring a more critical and interventionist approach to the analysis, by deconstructing and de-naturalizing the Greek Cypriot hegemonic antagonistic nationalist discourse, and the material support that is provided by the majority of the memorials and commemoration sites in the south of Cyprus. Finally, the Iconoclastic Controversies research project also aims to rethink the ways that academics communicate their research outcomes, moving away from an exclusive emphasis on the written text. Moreover, the research project demonstrates how academic communicational practices —written and non-written— are not outside knowledge production processes, and cannot be confined to a second, disconnected stage. In contrast, academic communicational practices can be seen to form an integrated part of knowledge production.

Table of Contents:

Chapter 1: An Introduction to Iconoclastic Controversies

Chapter 2: Communicating Academic Knowledge beyond the Written Academic Text

Chapter 3: On Antagonism and Nationalism – A Discursive- Material Re- Reading

Chapter 4: The Discourses and Materialities of Cypriot Antagonistic Nationalism

Chapter 5: The Iconoclastic Controversies Photographs

Chapter 6: The Reception of the Two Cypriot Exhibitions (with Vaia Doudaki, Yiannis Christidis and Fatma Nazli Köksal)

Chapter 7: The Interviews

Nico Carpentier is Extraordinary Professor at Charles University (Prague, Czech Republic) and President of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (2020-2023). He also holds a part-time position at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB - Free University of Brussels, Belgium), as Associate Professor. Moreover, he is a Research Fellow at Loughborough University. His previous monograph was The Discursive-Material Knot: Cyprus in Conflict and Community Media Participation (2017, Peter Lang, New York). Recent (co-)edited volumes are: Cyprus and its Conflicts. Representations, Materialities, and Cultures (2018, co-edited), Critical Perspectives on Media, Power and Change (2018, co-edited), Respublika! Experiments in the Performance of Participation and Democracy (2019, edited), Communication and Discourse Theory (2019, co-edited) and Communication as the Intersection of the Old and the New (2019, co-edited). See http://nicocarpentier.net/

September 10, 2021

Online conference

We are happy to announce the program of the ECREA 2021 remote post conference entitled “Old Media Persistence” (Webex platform, Septembre 10, 2021), co-organized by three ECREA Thematic Sections: Communication History, Radio and Sound, Television Studies.

To register and join the virtual program through Webex, please send an email to valerie.schafer@uni.lu until September 8, 2021.

Look at the program on the conference website (https://oldnewspersistence.com/program/) or check it below:

9.00-9.15: Introduction (Tiziano Bonini, Juan Francisco Gutiérrez Lozano, Valérie Schafer)

9.15-10.30: Panel 1

Old and New: persistence and co-existence

Chair: Berber Hagedoorn

• Gabriele Balbi, Old media persistence in the digital era. A theory
• Anne F. MacLennan, Radio old and new: Persistence of Canadian radio broadcasting in a digital world
• Jutta Roeser & Jo Marie Dominiak, How old and new music media coexist in everyday life: Media consumption between dynamics and persistence

10.30-10.45: Virtual coffee break

10.45-12.00: Panel 2

Audiovisual transformations: Continuities and inspirations

Chair: Christian Schwarzenegger

• Josep Maria Martí, Belén Monclús, Maria Gutiérrez, Xavier Ribes & Pau Lluis, The Spanish radio industry at the digital crossroad
• Paloma López Villafranca & Silvia Olmedo Salar, The transformation of radio drama into sound fiction on radio stations and audio platforms in Spain
• Andreas Schellewald, Locating the popular pleasures of TikTok historically

12.00-13.00: Virtual Lunch break

13.00-14.30: Panel 3

Live and let die: Survival, re-emergence and nostalgia

Chair: Salvatore Scifo

• Jacob Ørmen, Rasmus Helles, & Klaus Bruhn Jensen, Mass media are dying – Long live mass communication!
• Jonas Harvard & Ingela Wadbring, Let print die! Radical digital innovation in a Swedish local newspaper conglomerate and the idea of outdated “old media”
• João Pereira de Matos, Beyond nostalgia and emulation: Teletext as an ontotechnology of resistance
• Shellie McMurdo & Laura Mee, Haunted tape: Video, horror and nostalgia

14.30-14.45: Virtual Coffee break

14.45-16.15: Panel 4

Persisting Practices

Chair: Nazan Haydari

• Philipp Seuferling, Persisting media practices: An approach to historicize media in contexts of refugee governance
• Sergio Minniti, A “biographical” approach to retromedia practices: The case of Polaroidism
• Juliette de Maeyer & Will Mari, Acoustic phone couplers: An enduring analog-to-digital “bridge” technology for news workers
• Alexia Cappuccio, Can the radio still produce quality journalistic information? Work, roles, and news production of the French public radio journalists

16.15: Concluding remarks (Gabriele Balbi, Berber Hagedoorn, ‪Belén Monclús Blanco)

January 20-21, 2022

Stadscampus, Prinsstraat 13, Antwerp

Deadline: September 15, 2021

Two-day international film studies conference organized by the Research Centre for Visual Poetics at the University of Antwerp

Confirmed Keynote Speakers

• Marco Grosoli (Habib University, Karachi)
• Richard Suchenski (Bard College, New York)

The ‘return’ to Romanticism in the recent consideration of modernist cinemas (see Richard Suchenski, Projections of Memory: Romanticism, Modernism, and the Aesthetics of Film; Daniel Morgan, Late Godard and the Possibilities of Cinema) can be taken as a way to frame the apparent contradictions in the work of a number of key figures: the revolutionary cinema of Jean-Luc Godard seems at odds with the seeming reactionism of a sanctification of natural beauty in his ‘late’ works. The strict materialism of Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet, in its turn, gave way to reflections on the necessity of myth and utopian ideals in the politicization of art. And although the cinema of Marguerite Duras is characterized by a destructive negativity, her films exhibit a minute attention to material presence. We believe that the same contradictions that characterize these works can be found in the films of a number of contemporary filmmakers - Chantal Akerman, Abbas Kiarostami, Hong Sang-soo, Wang Bing, Lav Diaz, Albert Serra etc. - allowing us to align them with the project of aesthetic modernism. It is our contention (one we share with Nancy, Lacoue-Labarthe, Rancière, J.M. Schaeffer and others) that this project can indeed best be approached by considering its romantic undercurrent.

Focal points

We invite papers that address these romantic legacies according to these three axes or focal points: totality, infinity, negativity.

These correspond to what we feel to be three key genealogical lines in the history of modern cinema:

• reductive aesthetics and negativity;
• revelationist aesthetics and mysticism;
• the aspiration towards totality and the persistence of myth.
• We encourage contributions that take an interdisciplinary and genealogical approach to film aesthetics.

Topics

Proposals may address but are not limited to the following:

• The cinema and aesthetics of Jean-Luc Godard, Marguerite Duras, Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet, Werner Schroeter, Jacques Rivette, Chantal Akerman, Eric Rohmer, Abbas Kiarostami, Wang Bing, Lav Diaz, Hong Sang-Soo, Albert Serra (non-exhaustive list).
• The contemporaneity of contradictions: materialist and idealist, reactionary and revolutionary, Catholic and Marxist, realist and modernist, pessimism and utopia; fragmentation and totality, mystic solemnity and playful irony, and so on. In which ways do these contradictions underlie contemporary film aesthetics in spite of their apparent theoretical inconsistency?
• Parallel developments: the entwinement of film aesthetics with art criticism, philosophy, literature and other artistic disciplines. We welcome papers that take this shared heritage and the transitions between these disciplines as their starting point to reassess the aesthetics of contemporary cinema.
• Genealogies: How did key ideas such as infinity, totality, negativity, and so on, enter the aesthetics of cinema? We are looking forward to new insights into the history of these ideas as they might advance unexpected ways of reading, seeing and understanding contemporary film aesthetics.
• Aesthetics and Politics; Politics and Aesthetics: Both the socio-political background of cinematic practices and politically engaged aesthetics - as well as the often paradoxical relation between the two - require our attention. How do these aesthetics make visible the covert persistence or revival of seemingly marginalized conceptions of art, which, upon their reinscription in contemporary contexts, give way to new interpretations of the aims and utopian claims that characterized them?

Proposal submissions

Proposals for paper presentations can be sent to poeticinsurrections.conference@uantwerp.be by the 15th of September 2021. Please also include a 300 word abstract and a short bio.

September 20, 2021

Deadline: September 3, 2021

The recent growing popularity of TikTok has transformed the cultures and practices of social movements online worldwide. Despite several concerns towards the app, regarding weak security (Chae, 2020; Dziedzic, 2020), moral panics incited by malicious content on TikTok (Purwaningsih, 2018) and some countries’ (temporary) ban on the platform (e.g. Indonesia, Pakistan, India), TikTok has rapidly grown as the “hottest app of 2020” in the world (Brigham, 2020). Its functionality (e.g. short-video, voiceover, meme template, background music, duet, hashtag) and unique genres (e.g. dance, comedy, social media challenge) have expanded existing social media cultures and enabled users to engage with other users, social issues, and even misinformation and online toxicity with ease and fun.

As part of such cultural moves, TikTok users establish their vernacular cultures and find their meaningful use of the platform by leading or participating in various types of movements for global awareness, social change, and civic politics. This includes Young TikTok users’ climate activism (Hautea et al., 2021); Growing anti-racist movements, such as the continuation of “Black Lives Matter” on TikTok (Janfaza, 2020; Richardson, 2020); and emerging hashtag streams like #StopAsianHate in response to increasing violence against Asians in the pandemic (Hanson, 2021).

The affordances of TikTok provide room for creativity with music and filters powered by AI technologies, which facilitates the formulation of identity politics and cultures. Recent examples include Young Indian women’s lip-syncing to Bollywood songs against the caste system (Subramanian, 2021); LGBTQI+ users’ use of various filters to advocate for diversity (Simpson & Semaan, 2021); Young users’ meme cultures (Zeng & Abidin, 2021) as consciousness building work (Anderson & Keehn, 2020; Literat & Kligler-Vilenchik, 2019); Older generations’ collaboration with younger generations (Hood, 2020). However, social movements on TikTok are not always specifically targeted towards social justice, but may often also advocate for specific beliefs that mirror global politics, such as Anti-vaccine movements and distribution of misinformation (Basch et al., 2021); Far-right movements (Weimann & Masri, 2020).

Focusing on the newly emerging cultures on TikTok, scholars in Media Studies, Communication Studies, Sociology, and Anthropology also have begun to develop “TikTok Studies”, looking for instance at emergent meme cultures on TikTok (Zeng & Abidin, 2021; Zeng et al., 2020; Zulli & Zulli, 2020), TikTokers as new types of internet celebrities (Abidin, 2021), users’ music practices (Kaye et al., 2021), the emergence of new teenage pop culture (De Leyn et al., 2021), online learning on TikTok (Li et al., 2021; Literat, 2021), novel methodologies for TikTok (Schellewald, 2021), and the newly emerging geopolitics around the app (Gray, 2021).

In response to this expansion of scholarship on TikTok and alongside the TikTok Cultures Research Network’s ethos to cultivate diversity and equity in academic scholarship, we will be holding a one-day online Symposium (on Zoom) to showcase emergent research on the potentials, promises, pitfalls, and parameters of such social movements on TikTok. The Symposium seeks to provide a meaningful opportunity to reflect on the evolving cultures and practices around the civic and social movements on TikTok, wherein various actors on the platform across the globe advocate for social justice and specific values, develop grassroots networks and resources, and engage with others. We invite submissions on themes that include, but are not limited to:

• Politics, digital circulation, and/or economies of movements on TikTok
• Online activism, campaigns, and protest on TikTok
• Intersections of sexuality, gender, race, ethnicity, and more on TikTok
• Emerging TikTok practices and communities for advocacy
• Far-right, or alt-right movements on TikTok
• Roles and affordances of the platform technologies in mobilizing movements
• Surveillance of TikTok movements
• Consequences and pitfalls of TikTok movements

HDRs, ECRs (up to 5 years post-PhD + career interruptions), and scholars in/or from the Global South are strongly encouraged to apply. A selection of papers will also be considered for inclusion in a Special Issue tentatively entitled “TikTok and Social Movements” that will be published in a top-ranked peer-reviewed journal in the field of Media Studies, Internet Studies, and Communication Studies.

For consideration in this Symposium, please submit abstracts (up to 250 words) on previously unpublished papers and a short bio (up to 100 words) to TikTok Cultures Research Network (tiktokcultures@gmail.com).

Key Dates:

• 03 September 2021 – Abstracts and biographies due
• 08 September 2021 – Notifications of acceptance
• 20 September 2021 – TikTok and Social Movements Symposium, tentatively 1200–1600hrs, GMT+8

We look forward to receiving your submissions! Please contact TikTok Cultures Research Network (tiktokcultures@gmail.com) with any questions about this event.

This Symposium is the fourth event organized by the TikTok Cultures Research Network, an Asia Pacific-based Network dedicated to understanding and developing qualitative and cultural approaches to studying the impact of TikTok on society, founded by A/Prof Crystal Abidin and supported by a network of Founding Members in October 2020. This event is supported by the Centre for Culture and Technology, and financed by Strategic Investment funding from the Faculty of Humanities at Curtin University.

TikTok and Social Movements team,

Dr Jin Lee, A/Prof Crystal Abidin, and Dr Bondy Kaye

University of Groningen

Apply here: https://www.rug.nl/about-ug/work-with-us/job-opportunities/?details=00347-02S0008M6P

Job description

The successful candidate will provide leadership to develop and grow the chair group’s research agenda and educational programs. The position consists of three major task components: research, teaching and management.

• Research

The research task of the full professor covers 40% of the appointment. Research in the field of Media Studies is housed in the Groningen Research Institute for the Study of Culture (ICOG) and, within this, in the Centre for Media and Journalism Studies (CMJS) which has been assessed as excellent/world-leading in the last research accreditation. Furthermore, we host the national research school RMeS (Research school Media Studies). The new chair is expected to develop a research agenda on the interface of cultural industries, media and digitalization and attracting research funding as well as knowledge application/valorization. They will also actively participate in the interdisciplinary Jantina Tammes School for Digital Society, Technology and AI at the University of Groningen.

• Teaching

The teaching task covers 60% of the appointment (minus management time). The new chair is expected to lecture in the field of Media Studies and, more specifically, Media and Cultural Industries. The international, English-taught BA programme in Media Studies (https://www.rug.nl/bachelors/media-studies/), containing the second year Cultural Industries profile of 30 EC, focuses on the social and informative functions of media. It is rooted in the humanities but also draws upon methods and paradigms developed in the social sciences. The programme has an annual enrolment of 120 students from all parts of the world. Our five MA programmes (https://www.rug.nl/masters/media-studies/) provide students with cutting-edge knowledge of media and the digital transformations that profoundly change society. In addition, the department offers minor and pre-master programmes Media Studies and Journalism Studies. Our BA and MA programmes rank first among all Media Studies programmes in the Netherlands in the national student survey.

• Management

The chair is expected to perform management duties within the department of Media Studies and Journalism and, more broadly, within the Faculty of Arts. On the national and international level, the chair will participate in relevant networks.

Qualifications

We are looking for candidates who are internationally recognized in Media and Cultural Industries with a strong interest in processes of digitalization, datafication and platformization.

We encourage you to apply if you have:

• a PhD degree in Media Studies, Communication Studies or a closely related discipline
• an excellent research track record, as evidenced by an outstanding publication record of high-quality books and articles in international peer-reviewed journals
• successfully obtained funding for research projects/submitted excellent grant applications
• a relevant, strategic international network, demonstrated by, for example, participation in internationally renowned conferences and leading roles in editorial boards of academic journals
• extensive experience with teaching, active learning, coordination, independent supervision (of BA/MA students, PhD’s and Postdocs) and administrative tasks in BA/MA degrees programs related to Media Studies and/or Communication Studies
• an innovative view on teaching & teaching methods, including interdisciplinary teaching
• excellent leadership skills and demonstrable organizational competences
• a strong societal network and demonstrable experience with societal impact
• fluency in English (C1 level of the CEFR) and Dutch or willingness to learn the Dutch language within two years (to at least C1 level of the CEFR – for reading and listening).

And you are:

• an internationally recognized expert in Media Studies and/or Communication Studies who studies the field from a broad and interdisciplinary perspective
• communicating a clear vision of academic education and research, transcending your own discipline
• able to supervise, mentor and encourage the relatively young, dynamic team of staff members
• capable of and willing to create and strengthen collaborations between the department, the Research Institute, the Faculty and the broader research field and society
• acting as a representative of the programs to students and a broader audience, with a strong societal network and demonstrable experience with societal impact; capable of translating research and teaching to a general audience
• representing the field through his/her contacts with other universities in the Netherlands
• expected to acquire external research funding
• contributing to the organization of the department, cluster and faculty, for example by participating in committees and working groups in the fields of teaching, research and management
• a team player with good communication skills
• willing to fulfill the requirements for the University Teaching Qualification and academic leadership courses with the ability to reflect on your leadership skills and style.

Familiarity with the Dutch educational system is considered an asset.

Special Instructions to Applicants:

The Faculty is considering only those applicants who are ready to move to Groningen and live in the near environment of Groningen within a period of two years.

Organisation

University of Groningen

Since its foundation in 1614, the University of Groningen has established an international reputation as a dynamic and innovative university offering high quality teaching and research. Its 36,000 students are encouraged to develop their own individual talents through challenging study and career paths. The University of Groningen is an international center of knowledge: it belongs to the best research universities in Europe, and is allied with prestigious partner universities and networks worldwide. For additional information (https://www.rug.nl/(...)k-with-us/new-staff/). The University of Groningen has a strong commitment to the principles and practices of diversity and inclusion throughout the University community and welcomes candidates who enhance that diversity.

Faculty of Arts

The Faculty of Arts is building on a longstanding tradition of four centuries. Its mission is to be an ambitious top-ranking faculty in terms of both education and high-quality research, with a strong international orientation, firmly rooted in the North of the Netherlands. The faculty creates and shares knowledge through outstanding education and high-quality research, benefitting to society. With more than 5,500 students, the faculty is heavily involved in educating students, both Dutch and international.

Media Studies

Media Studies in Groningen is rooted in the humanities domain but also draws upon methods and paradigms developed in the social sciences domain of communication science. It has a specific focus on the informative and social functions of media. With media and mediation at the heart of contemporary culture and life, we study and reflect on media’s impact in a wide variety of environments, whether it is social media, print, websites, radio, television, or search engines. Our degrees aim to provide students with a thorough understanding of the affordances of different platforms and the interplay between them; the political and economic underpinnings of media systems; patterns of use, production and content; and the functions and impact of media in culture and society. Our research and teaching is characterized by a comparative perspective by studying media in their cultural, historical, economic, political and international contexts. We have a focus on cultural industries, digital cultures, journalism studies, audiovisual culture, and politics and global citizenship.

Chair of Media and Cultural Industries

For this Chair the media and cultural industries in all their facets are central, with an emphasis on processes of digitalization, datafication and platformization. Media are central to the cultural industries, also known as the creative industries. Cultural industry scholars are turning their attention to the growing cultural influence of the technology sector. Tensions and collaboration between tech giants and the traditional cultural sector is reshaping these industries and the cultural content they produce. This has implications for cultural creators, for citizens, and for culture. How are citizens impacted and how do policy makers at all levels respond? How do platform politics influence which stories get told and which ones get ignored? What happens when cultural texts are reframed as 'content'? What is at stake when cultural curation is outsourced to algorithms and how does the automation of cultural production affect work and meaning? These questions are central to the new chair of Media and Cultural industries.

A full description of the chair of Media and Cultural Industries can be obtained from the Office of the Faculty of Arts (see below for contact information).

Conditions of employment

The appointment will be at the level of Full Professor with a gross monthly salary depending on qualifications and work experience from € 5,749 up to a maximum of € 8,371 (salary scale H2 of Dutch Universities) for a full-time position. On top of that income, the candidate will receive an 8% holiday allowance and a year-end bonus of 8.3% of your yearly salary. The conditions are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO NU).

Date of appointment: February 2022 (or as soon as possible afterwards).

The faculty will facilitate you in obtaining the requested qualifications for teaching and the Dutch language during the first two years of your appointment.

Application

You can submit your application until 24 September 11:59pm / before 25 September 2021 Dutch local time (CET) by means of the application form (click on "Apply" below on the advertisement on the university website).

Applicants should fill in the application form and upload four PDF files:

1. cover letter - outlining your motivation and suitability for the role and demonstrating how you meet the eligibility criteria outlined above.

2. cv - including a list of five self-selected best papers or publications, the complete list of publications and names and contact details of at least three references.

3. statement of research accomplishments and plans + teaching statement (maximum two pages in total). This can be uploaded under ‘extra document’ on the website.

4. an appropriate and characteristic writing sample. This can be uploaded under ‘extra document’ on the website.

A trial lecture is part of the standard procedure. A (personality) assessment may be part of the procedure.

The first round of interviews will be scheduled at the end of October; the second round of interviews is scheduled for the first half of November 2021.

We provide career services for partners of new faculty members moving to Groningen

We are an equal opportunity employer that values diversity. We have adopted an active policy to increase the number of female scientists across all disciplines of the university. Therefore, women are encouraged to apply. Our selection procedure follows the guidelines of the Recruitment code (NVP), https://www.nvp-hrnetwerk.nl/sollicitatiecode/ and European Commission's European Code of Conduct for recruitment of researchers, https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/charter/code

Unsolicited marketing is not appreciated.

Information

For information you can contact:

Ms T. Oosterman, + 31 50 3635834, t.e.oosterman@rug.nl

Prof. Anthonya Visser, Ddean of the Faculty of Arts, anthonya.visser@rug.nl

Please do not use the e-mail address(es) above for applications.